GreenSpring Computers was started in 1984 as VME Specialists. The original product focus was VMEbus cards for industrial automation. The company was founded by Leonard Lehmann and his father Henry Lehmann in Redwood City, California, United States.
Change of name
Around 1988, the company changed its name to GreenSpring Computers. With the name change came a change of focus away from VMEbus specific products to industrial automation products. The company worked with Apple Computers and SuperMac Technologies to design and manufacture the first video cards for the new Macintosh II product family. With the new Macintosh computers came the vision that the embedded market was looking for alternatives to industrial PCs running DOS. The RackMac became the only industrial version of the Macintosh computer available. In addition to the main computer (RM1200) was a 14" monitor available with a touchscreen (RM1240 w/o touchscreen and RM1250 w/ touchscreen).
Acquisition
GreenSpring Computers was acquired by SBS Technologies in April 1995.[1] In 2006, SBS Technologies was acquired by GE Fanuc Embedded Systems.[2] The SBS headquarters in Albuquerque is now the headquarters for GE Fanuc Embedded Systems.
Original product line
| Product name | Product description |
|---|---|
| SBC1 | Motorola 68000/ Motorola 68010 based VMEbus CPU module |
| SBC2 | Motorola 68000/ Motorola 68010 based VMEbus CPU module with dual-ported memory |
| SBC3 | Motorola 68020 based VMEbus CPU module |
| DRAM 512/2M | 512 and 2M VMEbus memory module. Memory was DIP and populated into sockets. |
| DRAM 4M | 4M VMEbus memory module. Memory was ZIP (Zig zag inline package). |
| VME360 | VMEbus video card |
| VME490 | VMEbus RS232/422 serial card |
| VME620 | VMEbus SCSI interface |
| VME750 | Floating Point module for SBC1. Motorola 68881 |
Mezzanine modules
With the focus moving away from VMEbus only, Leonard brought on Kim Rubin to develop a bus independent module called IndustryPacks (IP). IndustryPack became recognized as an industry standard for mezzanine modules and was adopted by ANSI as VITA 4. These mezzanine modules are approximately the size of a business card (99mm x 45mm). Featuring a 16 or 32 bit wide I/O interface and 50 User defined I/O pins.
Original IPs
| IP name | IP description |
|---|---|
| IP-Digital24 | 24-channel TTL input and output, programmable bits, supports RMW, bit set/reset, 64mA sink |
| IP-Digital48 | 48 general purpose lines of bit I/O including a 24-bit timer |
| IP-DUAL PI/T | Two MC68230s for timers/interface, 68230 includes two 8-bit or one 16-bit programmable port, two 24-bit timers |
| IP-488 | IEEE-488 Interface. Talker, listener, controller |
| IP-Serial | Two Channel Serial, 2 multi-protocol RS-232/422/485, async/sync to 2 megabaud, SDLC, HDLC, X.25. Interrupts. |
| VME310 | VMEbus 3U A24/D16, IRQ1,3,4,6 selectable. Supports 2 IP's |
| VME610 | VMEbus 6U A24/D16, IRQ 1-7 selectable. Supports 4 IP's |
| RM1260 | NuBus intelligent carrier. Supports 2 IP's |
| RM1270 | NuBus support Carrier. Supports 2 IP's |
The big advancements for IPs was when Motorola adopted the standard for their MVME162 processor line (see Motorola Single Board Computers) based on the Motorola 68040. In a short time, there were multiple IP manufacturers and over 100 different IP modules available.
Final product line
| Category | Product | Form | Channels | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Analog Converters | IP-16ADC | IP | 16 | High accuracy 16 bit ADC |
| Analog Converters | IP-16DAC | IP | 3 | High stability 16 DAC |
| Analog Converters | IP-AD12SS | IP | 8 | Simultaneous sampling 12 bit ADC |
| Analog Converters | IP-AD16SS | IP | 8 | Simultaneous sampling 16 bit ADC |
| Analog Converters | IP-DAC | IP | 6 | General purpose 12 bit DAC |
| Analog Converters | IP-DAC-SU | IP | 16 | Simultaneous update 16 bit DAC |
| Analog Converters | IP-HIADC | IP | 16 | "High speed, simultaneous sampling 16 bit ADC" |
| Analog Converters | IP-OPTOAD12 | IP | 16 | Opto-isolated 12 bit ADC |
| Analog Converters | IP-OPTOAD16 | IP | 16 | Opto-isolated 16 bit ADC |
| Analog Converters | IP-OPTODA12 | IP | 8 | Opto-isolated 12 bit DAC |
| Analog Converters | IP-OPTODA16 | IP | 4 | Opto-isolated 16 bit DAC |
| Analog Converters | IP-PRECADC | IP | 20+2 | Resistive bridge driver and 12 bit ADC and DAC |
| Analog Converters | IP-UL-ADC40 | IP | 40 | General purpose 12 bit ADC with timer and strobe |
| Analog Converters | IP-UL-AUDIO | IP | 2+2 | Audio 16-bit sigma-delta ADC and DAC |
| Analog Converters | IP-UL-AUDIO-4 | IP | 4+4 | Audio 16-bit sigma-delta ADC and DAC |
| Analog Converters | IP-UL-DAQ200 | IP | 2+2 | High speed 16-bit sigma-delta ADC and DAC with FIFO |
| Analog Converters | PMC-UL-GPIO | PMC | 8+8 | General purpose 12 bit ADC and DAC with digital I/O |
| Audio | P1-AUDIO | PCMIP | Stereo | Soundblaster compatible audio I/O with amplifier |
| Audio | PMC-AUDIO | PMC | Stereo | Soundblaster compatible audio I/O with amplifier |
| Avionics Communication | IP-1553 | IP | 1 | Dual-redundant with ILC DDC module |
| Data Storage | IP-FLASH | IP | Up to 8 Mbytes Flash memory | |
| Data Storage | IP-NVRAM | IP | 1 Mbyte battery-backed SRAM | |
| Data Storage | P-D64 | PCMIP | 64 Mbytes DRAM | |
| Data Storage | P-F64 | PCMIP | 64 Mbytes Intel StrataFlash | |
| Data Storage | PMC-PCMCIA | PMC | PCMCIA (PC Card) type I or II card socket | |
| Data Storage | PMC-USCSI | PMC | 1 | Ultra Wide SCSI to 40 Mbytes/sec front/rear/SE/DIFF |
| Digital I/O – Buffered TTL | IP-ALTERA-TTL | IP | 32 | User-programmable FPGA |
| Digital I/O – Buffered TTL | IP-UNIDIG | IP | 24 | General purpose I/O |
| Digital I/O – Buffered TTL | IP-UNIDIG-I | IP | 24 | General purpose I/O with interrupts |
| Digital I/O – Buffered TTL | IP-UNIDIG-IO-12I12O | IP | 24 | Opto-isolated with interrupts |
| Digital I/O – Buffered TTL | IP-UNIDIG-IO-24I | IP | 24 | Opto-isolated with interrupts |
| Digital I/O – Buffered TTL | IP-UNIDIG-IO-24IO | IP | 24 | Opto-isolated with interrupts |
| Digital I/O – Buffered TTL | IP-UNIDIG-O-12I12O | IP | 24 | Opto-isolated |
| Digital I/O – Buffered TTL | IP-UNIDIG-O-24I | IP | 24 | Opto-isolated |
| Digital I/O – Buffered TTL | IP-UNIDIG-O-24IO | IP | 24 | Opto-isolated |
| Digital I/O – Buffered TTL | IP-UNIDIG-P | IP | 16 | Parallel transfers with hardware handshake modes |
| Digital I/O – Buffered TTL | IP-XILINX-BUF | IP | 24 | User-programmable FPGA |
| Digital I/O – Buffered TTL | IP-XILINX-XX-BUF | IP | 24 | Two user-programmable FPGAs |
| Digital I/O – Buffered TTL | P1-IO32 | PCMIP | 32 | General purpose I/O with interrupts |
| Digital I/O – Buffered TTL | P2-IO32 | PCMIP | 32 | "General purpose I/O with interrupts, front panel I/O" |
| Digital I/O – Buffered TTL | PMC-UL-GPIO | PMC | 16 | "Also includes ADC, DAC, and timers" |
| Digital I/O – Differential 422 | IP-ALTERA | IP | 20 | User-programmable FPGA |
| Digital I/O – Differential 422 | IP-UNIDIG-D | IP | 24 | General purpose I/O |
| Digital I/O – Differential 422 | IP-UNIDIG-I-D | IP | 24 | General purpose I/O with interrupts |
| Digital I/O – Differential 422 | IP-UNIDIG-P-D | IP | 16 | Parallel transfers with hardware handshake modes |
| Digital I/O – Differential 422 | IP-XILINX-422 | IP | 24 | User-programmable FPGA |
| Digital I/O – Differential 422 | IP-XILINX-XX-422 | IP | 24 | Two user-programmable FPGAs |
| Digital I/O – High-side (FET) | IP-OPTO-DRV | IP | 16 | Opto-isolated |
| Digital I/O – Low-side (FET) | IP-DRIVER40 | IP | 40 | User-programmable FPGA |
| Digital I/O – Low-side (FET) | IP-UNIDIG-HV-16I8O | IP | 24 | High voltage |
| Digital I/O – Low-side (FET) | IP-UNIDIG-HV-8I16O | IP | 24 | High voltage |
| Digital I/O – Low-side (FET) | IP-UNIDIG-IHV-16I8O | IP | 24 | High voltage with interrupts |
| Digital I/O – Low-side (FET) | IP-UNIDIG-IHV-8I16O | IP | 24 | High voltage with interrupts |
| Digital I/O – Mechanical Relay | IP-RELAY | IP | 8 | "Each is DPDT, latching" |
| Digital I/O – Opto-Isolated | IP-OPTO-DRV | IP | 16 | Outputs only |
| Digital I/O – Opto-Isolated | IP-OPTO-INT | IP | 8 | Supports interrupts |
| Digital I/O – Opto-Isolated | IP-UNIDIG-IO-12I12O | IP | 24 | Inputs and outputs |
| Digital I/O – Opto-Isolated | IP-UNIDIG-IO-24I | IP | 24 | Input only |
| Digital I/O – Opto-Isolated | IP-UNIDIG-IO-24IO | IP | 24 | Programmable as input or output |
| Digital I/O – Opto-Isolated | IP-UNIDIG-O-12I12O | IP | 24 | Inputs and outputs with interrupts |
| Digital I/O – Opto-Isolated | IP-UNIDIG-O-24I | IP | 24 | Input only with interrupts |
| Digital I/O – Opto-Isolated | IP-UNIDIG-O-24IO | IP | 24 | Programmable as input or output with interrupts |
| Digital I/O – Unbuffered TTL | IP-ALTERA | IP | 8 | User-programmable FPGA includes EIA-422 |
| Digital I/O – Unbuffered TTL | IP-ALTERA-TTL | IP | 16 | User-programmable FPGA |
| Digital I/O – Unbuffered TTL | IP-UNIDIG-E | IP | 24 | ESD protected |
| Digital I/O – Unbuffered TTL | IP-UNIDIG-E-48 | IP | 48 | ESD protected |
| Digital I/O – Unbuffered TTL | IP-UNIDIG-I-E | IP | 24 | ESD protected with interrupts |
| Digital I/O – Unbuffered TTL | IP-XILINX-ESD | IP | 24 | User-programmable FPGA |
| Digital I/O – Unbuffered TTL | IP-XILINX-XX-ESD | IP | 24 | Two user-programmable FPGAs |
| Ethernet | CP-3101 | CPCI 3U | 2 | Dual 10BaseT/100BaseTX Ethernet with front panel RJ45 |
| Ethernet | IP-ETHERNET-10B2 | IP | 1 | 10Base2 Ethernet when used with transition module |
| Ethernet | IP-ETHERNET-10B5 | IP | 1 | 10Base5 Ethernet when used with transition module |
| Ethernet | IP-ETHERNET-10BT | IP | 1 | 10BaseT Ethernet when used with transition module |
| Ethernet | P2-100BT-ER | PCMIP | 1 | 10BaseT/100BaseTX Ethernet with front panel RJ45 |
| Ethernet | PMC-100BT | PMC | 1 | Single 10BaseT/100BaseTX Ethernet with front panel RJ45 |
| Ethernet | PMC-3101 | PMC | 2 | Dual 10BaseT/100BaseTX Ethernet with front panel RJ45 |
| Industrial Busses | IP-488 | IP | GPIB IEEE-488 bus controller/talker/listener | |
| Industrial Busses | PMC-ARCNET | PMC | ARCNET with isolated 485 or traditional interface | |
| Industrial Busses | PMC-ECAN | PMC | Dual isolated CAN busses using Intel 82527 | |
| IndustryPack Carriers | ATC30 | ISA | 3 | Short ISA carrier |
| IndustryPack Carriers | ATC40 | ISA | 4 | Long ISA carrier |
| IndustryPack Carriers | CPCI-100A-BP | CPCI 3U | 2 | Rear panel I/O via J2 |
| IndustryPack Carriers | CPCI-100A-FP | CPCI 3U | 2 | Front panel I/O via Champ50s |
| IndustryPack Carriers | CPCI-200A-BP | CPCI 6U | 4 | "Rear panel I/O via J4, J5" |
| IndustryPack Carriers | CPCI-200A-FP | CPCI 6U | 4 | Front panel I/O via SCSI-style connectors |
| IndustryPack Carriers | FLEX104A | PC/104 | 2 | Slightly larger than standard PC/104 |
| IndustryPack Carriers | IPOC-1747 | AB | 2 | Allen-Bradley Open Controller |
| IndustryPack Carriers | IPPC-2636A | VME 6U | 4 | Fits onto Motorola MVME 2300/2600 series CPUs |
| IndustryPack Carriers | PCI-40A | PCI | 4 | Full length PCI slot size |
| IndustryPack Carriers | PCI-60A | PCI | 6 | Full length ISA slot size |
| IndustryPack Carriers | SPI-200 | ISA | 4 | DSPLink3 bus provides access to modules |
| IndustryPack Carriers | SPV-200 | VME 6U | 4 | DSPLink3 bus provides access to modules |
| IndustryPack Carriers | VIPC310 | VME 3U | 2 | Front panel ribbon connectors |
| IndustryPack Carriers | VIPC310-HD51 | VME 3U | 2 | High density 51-pin connectors on front panel |
| IndustryPack Carriers | VIPC310-TX | VME 3U | 2 | Twinax connectors for IP-1553 |
| IndustryPack Carriers | VIPC360 | VME 3U | 2 | Carrier with MC68360 CPU |
| IndustryPack Carriers | VIPC616 | VME 6U | 4 | Ribbon cable connectors on front panel |
| IndustryPack Carriers | VIPC618 | VME 6U | 4 | Shielded SCSI-style connectors on front panel |
| IndustryPack Carriers | VIPC664 | VME 6U | 4 | I/O is via rear panel VME64x connectors |
| IndustryPack Carriers | VIPC860-BP | VME 6U | 4 | Carrier with PowerPC 860 CPU and I/O via rear panel VME64x |
| IndustryPack Carriers | VIPC860-FP | VME 6U | 4 | Carrier with PowerPC 860 CPU and I/O via front panel Champ50s |
| Motion Control and Measurement | IP-ENCODER6 | IP | 6 | 16 bit quadrature position encoder |
| Motion Control and Measurement | IP-QUADRATURE | IP | 4 | Quadrature decoder with 24 bit resolution |
| Motion Control and Measurement | IP-STEPPER | IP | 2 | Two-axis stepper motor controller |
| Motion Control and Measurement | IP-SYNCHRO | IP | 2 | Synchro and resolver with 16 bit resolution |
| PC•MIP and PMC Carriers | MC-101 | PCI | 1 | PCMIP mechanical adaptor to short PCI slot |
| PC•MIP and PMC Carriers | MC-101DB | PCI | 1 | PCMIP mechanical adaptor to PCI slot with debug headers |
| PC•MIP and PMC Carriers | MC-303 | CPCI 3U | 3 | Front and rear I/O for PCMIP |
| PC•MIP and PMC Carriers | MC-607 | CPCI 6U | 6 | Front and rear I/O for PCMIP |
| PC•MIP and PMC Carriers | MC-804 | PCI | 4 | Full length PCI slot PCMIP |
| Reflective Memory | IP-FIBERIO | IP | 1 | 1 Gbit optical ring with 512 kbytes shared memory and interrupts |
| Serial Communication Modules | CP-6201 | CPCI 6U | 16 | "General purpose async 232 to 115.2 k front and rear I/O, FIFO" |
| Serial Communication Modules | IP-COMM360 | IP | 4 | MC68360 CPU with TTL serial interfaces |
| Serial Communication Modules | IP-COMM360-EN | IP | 4 | MC68360 CPU with TTL serial interfaces for Ethernet |
| Serial Communication Modules | IP-COMM360-MH | IP | 4 | MC68360 CPU with TTL serial interfaces for E1/T1 |
| Serial Communication Modules | IP-MP-SERIAL | IP | 2 | High speed sync 232/422 with modem lines |
| Serial Communication Modules | IP-MP-SERIAL-232 | IP | 2 | High speed sync with modem lines EIA-232 only |
| Serial Communication Modules | IP-MP-SERIAL-423 | IP | 2 | High speed sync with modem lines EIA-423 only |
| Serial Communication Modules | IP-OCTAL-232 | IP | 8 | General purpose async 232 with flow control |
| Serial Communication Modules | IP-OCTAL-422 | IP | 8 | General purpose async 422 |
| Serial Communication Modules | IP-OCTAL-423 | IP | 8 | General purpose async 423 with flow control |
| Serial Communication Modules | IP-OCTAL-485 | IP | 8 | General purpose async 485 |
| Serial Communication Modules | IP-OCTALOPTO | IPDW | 8 | General purpose opto-isolated 232/422/423/20mA |
| Serial Communication Modules | IP-OCTALPLUS-232 | IP | 8 | General purpose async 232 with flow control and deep FIFOs |
| Serial Communication Modules | IP-OCTALPLUS-422 | IP | 8 | General purpose async 422 with deep FIFOs |
| Serial Communication Modules | IP-OCTALPLUS-485 | IP | 8 | General purpose async/sync 485 |
| Serial Communication Modules | IP-OCTALPLUS-TTL | IP | 8 | General purpose async TTL with flow control and deep FIFOs |
| Serial Communication Modules | IP-SERIAL | IP | 2 | General purpose async 232/422 with modem lines |
| Serial Communication Modules | P1-OCTAL-232 | PCMIP | 8 | General purpose async 232 to 115.2 k |
| Serial Communication Modules | P1-OCTAL-422 | PCMIP | 8 | General purpose async 422 to 480.6 k |
| Serial Communication Modules | P2-HSS2 | PCMIP | 2 | "High speed sync 232/422/449/530 with modem lines FIFO, DMA" |
| Serial Communication Modules | P2-OCTAL-232 | PCMIP | 8 | General purpose async 232 to 115.2 k front panel I/O |
| Serial Communication Modules | P2-OCTAL-422 | PCMIP | 8 | General purpose async 422 to 480.6 k front panel I/O |
| Serial Communication Modules | PMC-HSSERIAL | PMC | 4 | "High speed sync 232/422/449/530 with modem lines FIFO, DMA" |
| Serial Communication Modules | PMC-OCTPRO-232 | PMC | 8 | General purpose async 232 to 115.2 k front and rear I/O |
| Serial Communication Modules | PMC-OCTPRO-422 | PMC | 8 | General purpose async 422 to 480.6 k front and rear I/O |
| Telecommunications | IP-COMM360 | IP | 4 | Synchronous serial and ISDN |
| Telecommunications | PMC-8260-400 | PMC | 4 | Quad intelligent PowerPC 8260-based E1/T1 with SCSA bus |
| Telecommunications | VIPC860 | VME 6U | 4 | High speed synchronous serial |
| Temperature Measurement | IP-THERMISTOR | IP | 16 | 12 bit thermistor measurement for 2 or 4 wire devices |
| Timers | IP-UL-ADC40 | IP | 1 | Includes ADCs |
| Timers | IP-UL-AUDIO | IP | 2 | "Includes ADCs, DACs" |
| Timers | IP-UL-DAQ200 | IP | 2 | "Includes ADCs, DACs" |
| Timers | IP-UNIDIG-T | IP | 4 | "16-bit timers cascadable into two 32-bit, buffered I/O" |
| Timers | IP-UNIDIG-T-D | IP | 4 | "16-bit timers cascadable into two 32-bit, differential I/O" |
| Timers | PMC-UL-GPIO | PMC | 2 | "Includes ADCs, DACs, digital I/O" |
| Transition Modules | TM-680 | CPCI 6U | 6 | Rear panel I/O for MC-607 |
| Transition Modules | XM-360-16 | VME 6U | 16 | VME-mounted with RJ45s for four IP-COMM360s 422 only |
| Transition Modules | XM-360-4 | VME 6U | 4 | VME-mounted with HD26s for IP-COMM360 |
| Transition Modules | XM-360-EN | VME 6U | 3 | VME-mounted with Ethernet for IP-COMM360-EN |
| Transition Modules | XM-360-MH | VME 6U | 4 | T1 interfaces up to four IP-COMM360-MH |
| Transition Modules | XM-664-60 | VME | 4 | Rear panel IndustryPack I/O for VIPC664 and VIPC860-BP |
| Transition Modules | XM-664-61 | VME | 4 | Rear panel IndustryPack I/O for VIPC664 and VIPC860-BP |
| Transition Modules | XM-664-80 | VME | 4 | Rear panel IndustryPack I/O for VIPC664 and VIPC860-BP |
| Transition Modules | XM-860 | VME 6U | 4 | Rear panel serial I/O for VIPC860-FP |
| Transition Modules | XM-LCD | - | 1 | Power supply and connector for flat panel displays |
| Transition Modules | XM-OCTAL | 19” | 16 | 19 inch rack mount bar for two IP-Octal series modules |
| Transition Modules | XM-OCTAL-6U-D | VME 6U | 8 | VME-mounted with DB25s for IP-Octal series modules |
| Transition Modules | XM-OCTAL-6U-RJ16 | VME 6U | 16 | VME-mounted with RJ11s for IP-Octal series modules |
| Transition Modules | XM-OCTAL-6U-RJ8 | VME 6U | 8 | VME-mounted with RJ45s for IP-Octal series modules |
| Transition Modules | XM-SYNCHRO | - | 1 | Provides reference and connections for IP-Synchro |
| Video Displays | IP-LCD | IP | 1 | SVGA CRT and LCD display 640x480 |
| Video Displays | P2-VIDEO | PCMIP | 1 | CRT display to 1024x768 with front panel output |
| Video Displays | PMC-VIDEOPLUS | PMC | 1 | CRT display to 1280x1024 with front panel output |
References
- ↑ "SBS ENGINEERING, INC. ANNOUNCES LETTER OF INTENT TO ACQUIRE GREENSPRING COMPUTERS, INC". The Free Library. 12 September 1994. Archived from the original on 13 January 2017. Retrieved 14 December 2016.
- ↑ "GreenSpring Computers Adds Eight New Products and PC/104 Solution to IndustryPack Line". GE Automation. 14 February 1997. Archived from the original on 20 December 2016. Retrieved 14 December 2016.
External links
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